Martial arts continue to grow in popularity from novices who use it as an aerobic exercise to the advanced who compete regularly in competitions. Students of martial arts often use training devices such as padded targets for practicing their punching and kicking. These pads are usually held by an instructor or another student.
One type of martial arts training device is the double paddle striking target. This type of padded target provides a “clapping” sound when a user strikes one of the paddles causing the two paddles to come together and contact each other. A disadvantage of this type of striking target is that the “clapping” sound produced after kicking or punching one side of the paddles is often soft, especially for beginning and younger students, and the noise produced is generally the same no matter where the user strikes the target. Furthermore, after frequent use, the separation of the two paddles becomes minimized. Thus, the “clapping” sound becomes softer as the striking target gets older because the paddles are already contacting each other before the user even strikes the target.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a striking target having enhanced noise producing capabilities in which the “clapping” sound produced by the double paddle striking target is intensified when the user strikes the correct location of the target. Also, there is a need for increasing the durability of the striking target by providing for the preservation of the separation of the two paddles.